Totally rawsome

It’s entertaining season around here, and ‘stealing salad’ is a sneaky way to get two meals from one. Mexican black bean and corn salad is perfect for a potluck or BBQ and by pilfering 3 cups of prepared ingredients (before adding the avocado and Queso Fresco) and 3 tablespoons of dressing; you’ll have a ready-made salsa, to spoon into tacos with crumbed flathead and chipotle mayo for dinner the next day. My ten year old’s verdict – DELICIOUS!
I served this up at two Christmas lunches last week. The recipe is adapted from one my son made at school – he’s lucky enough to be part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen program, where ingredients are plucked straight from the school veggie patch and cooked up by the kids.
This salad is a bowl of health, choc-full of raw veggies, and lots of texture and colour. I mucked around with the original recipe, adding mild chillies and onion, swapping lettuce for shredded red cabbage and replacing fetta with Mexican Queso Fresco. Damn I LOVE this cheese. It’s admittedly tricky to find, but well worth the hunt. it’s smooth and mild, holds its shape well and has a little kick of saltiness – the perfect salad cheese. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. See you in 2015! xx
PS. I had to share my vintage Japanese ‘Hostess’ brand salad servers. I love the wood/ceramic combination and the crazy colours. I found the red ones a couple of weeks ago. Do three sets constitute a collection? I hope so, as calling myself ‘a collector’ surely justifies me buying more…

Drain soaked black beans, place into a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 40–50 minutes until just tender. Take care not to overcook them as they should retain a bit of bite. Drain, rinse and place in a large bowl. Allow to cool.
Add tomatoes, corn kernels, onion, cabbage, capsicum and chillies. Toss gently.♦ Reserve 3 cups of salad mix for the flathead tacos with black bean salsa (recipe 2).
To make the lime dressing, place ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well.♦ Reserve 3 tablespoons dressing for the flathead tacos with black bean salsa (recipe 2).
Refrigerate salad ingredients and dressing separately, covered, until ready to serve. Both can be prepared the night before.
To serve, gently stir the large quantity of dressing through the large bowl of salad ingredients. Scatter with avocado, coriander, crumbled Queso Fresco and smashed corn chips (if using). Serve immediately.

Be sure to scatter the avocado on top of the salad, rather than stir it through. If there is any leftover dressed salad, you can pick off the avocado and it will keep well for a couple of days – it’s great to take to work for lunch!

Reserved salad mixture and dressing (for the tacos) can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days.

♦ To make black bean salsa, combine reserved salad mix and reserved lime dressing. Dredge flathead fillets in flour, dip into beaten eggs and coat well in breadcrumbs. Refrigerate, covered, until required.
Pour oil into a large non-stick frying pan, to about 3mm (.1″) deep. Shallow-fry the crumbed flathead fillets in batches for about 2–3 minutes each side, until light golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
Warm tortillas in a dry non-stick pan. Arrange flathead fillets and a good plop of black bean salsa on each. Drizzle with chipotle mayo, and serve immediately.

Just when I think you’ve done your prettiest dish yet, along comes another one! That salad shot is just so darn fresh and festive looking! I can’t wait to try that salad (I think I’ll have to substitute the cheese, sadly, unless I’m very lucky), and I WANT those tacos. Yum, yum, yum! Happy new year!

Yay! Thank you. So glad someone noticed! I LOVE that tablecloth. It’s quite possibly my favorite, and was discovered buried under a mountain of pillowcases and hankies in my local op shop. It’s quite large and beautifully hand-embroidered.

Oh yay, lucky you! It’s the best isn’t it. Stephanie is one of my biggest foodie heroes, and the Kitchen Garden program is just the bee’s knees. I save my son’s weekly recipes in a folder – so good having tried, tested, kid-approved recipes to hand.

These salads look so crunchy and healthy, I just want to dive right into it like I do in the pool 😛 I bet they are equally refreshing!
Delicious way to start 2015! Happy New Year 🙂
Cheers, Choc Chip Uru

Rawsome and awesome as far as I’m concerned…two great recipes. I love your fork and spoon salad sets. I’ve never seen ones like that and think they are lovely. Wishing you all the best in the new year.

You’re lovely, thanks Karen. To be honest, life has gotten in the way of blogging lately and the longer I go without posting the harder it is to dive back in! Amongst other stuff I’ve been frightfully busy at work, and have been too tired to snaffle any downtime for writing/photographing. But… you have lit the proverbial cracker and I’m getting off my backside this weekend to put up a post 🙂

Hi Madam DeVine. Yep, have been ploughing through those tortillas!
I just trawled through the archives and I don’t have a single recipe for plums! Must rectify that one of these days. City Hippy Farmgirl makes beautiful food, and she has some great looking Chilli plum sauce and Plum shortcakes… Happy New Year! xx

Thanks Jannie! Yep, I’m with you on the food theme idea. Winter is Euro cuisine for us, and Summer is almost exclusively Mex (with a pinch of Japanese). It’s tacos and tortillas once a week around here.